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BEN RICH
1 925-1 995
BY WILLIS M. HAWKINS
MEN ICY died on January 5, 1995, after a full career as an
engineer, a designer, and an effective and cherished execu-
tive. I first knew Ben when he joiner! the Lockheed Aircraft
Company in Burbank back in 1950. He came to us from the
University of California, Berkeley, and University of Califor-
nia, Los Angeles, with a master's degree in mechanical
engineering. At the time, ~ was in charge of the Advance cl
Design Organization under the Deputy Chief Engineer C. L.
"Kelly" Johnson, en cl we were working on our first Mach 2+ Air
Force fighter proposal, which became the F-104. Ben was as-
signed the task of analyzing the aerothermoclynamic
performance of the power plant with little or no existing state
of the art for supersonic inlets. It is a testament to Ben's un-
clerstancling of this specialty that the inlet configuration was
classified by the Air Force and the details obscured in Air
Force-releasect pictures of the airplane for a number of years.
The Lockheed "Skunk Works," which had originated
during the design en cl clevelopment of the original P-80
prototype "Lulu-Belle," was being reactivated at about the time
that the F-104 was conceived. Its specific purpose was the
secret clevelopment of the U-2, en c! Ben was "borrowed" by
Kelly Johnson to help on that program. His "temporary"
assignment became his career. Uncler Kelly, Ben pursued his
specialty of aerothermoclynamic analysis. After the U-2, he
201

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202
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
was called upon to produce power plant design concepts for a
supersonic airplane having the same missions as the U-2 since
it was clear that the U-2, in spite of its remarkable high-
altitude performance, would soon be vulnerable to opposing
air defense systems. Still unknown to most of the technical
world was Ben's leadership in designing a Mach 2.0 airplane
with the same radius of action as the U-2. It appeared at the
time (before air-to-air refueling) that the only way --
accomplish such a mission was by using hydrogen as a fuel.
Ben created and directed the development of the power plant
system and demonstrated its feasibility by means of full-scale
operational test rigs. This system incorporated cryogenic
tanks, practical insulation, fuel pumps and valves, refueling
hardware, and power plant operation years before such
equipment would become available in national space
programs. Since the planned use of the airplane involved
secret bases in remote areas worldwide, the logistical problems
of supplying liquid hydrogen at such bases drove the systems
cost to insupportable heights and the program died.
Ben and Kelly both realized that high performance was es-
sential for accomplishing the reconnaissance mission, and out
of the remains of this unfulfilled program, including the Pratt
and Whitney engine work, came the beginnings of the SR-71
Blackbird incorporating a Dower clans concept still unequaled
AN -- rip
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BEN RICH
203
participated in early efforts to reduce the radar signature of
the airframe and its power plants. Even U-2 modifications were
attempted, en c! the unique shape en cl materials used in the
SR-71 attest to early "stealth" efforts, all of which ultimately
produced the exceptional configuration exemplifiecl by the F-
I17A and the concept confirmation vehicles that prececlec3 it.
The constant infusion of new technologies into aircraft design
concepts demanclec3 of Ben, now clearly a deputy to Kelly
Johnson, a technical judgment role that was unprececlenteci.
Kelly en c! a majority of the Air Force leadership were comfort-
able in their depenclence on speeci as the dominant factor in
superior tactical effectiveness, and stealth, as a concept, appeared
to many to be a retrograde step. Ben's persistence, technical en cl
operational logic, articulate support, and patient salesmanship
finally brought true, effective stealth into operational thinking,
and the F-~17A came into being. The F-~17A earned the 1989
Robert J. Collier Trophy for Rich and the Air Force Lockheec!
Team. In addition, as a result of all his accomplishments as well
as the F-~17A, Secretary of Defense HaroIc3 Brown awarclet1 Ben
the Pentagon's highest civilian defense award-the Meclal for
Distinguished Public Service.
With Kelly's retirement and increasing health problems,
Ben became the leacler of Lockheed's unique Skunk Works
organization, the chief Skunk. I was intimately involved in this
transition since the Skunk Works had always been a part of
the Lockheec! California Company, en c! my own assignment at
the time was as president of this company Ben's boss. Watch-
ing Ben work with the creative engineers, the production
artists, the ingenious test teams all of whom had grown up
in this remarkably spontaneous and individualistic environ-
ment was a rewarding experience. Kelly, his mentor, and a
giant by any stanclarcis, was not an easy man to work with. He
was intolerant of average performance and intellect, and he
was a technical one-man show. Ben was the antithesis of this.
He delegated completely, he was open to suggestion almost
to a fault and he was quick with praise for any, even small,
contribution. He was also an enthusiastic salesman who rel-
ished the accomplishments of those around him.

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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
Ben's peers recognized his accomplishments. In 1972 the
erican Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.
(AlAA) honored him with its National Aircraft Design Award,
en cl in 1991 he was made an honorary fellow. In 1988 he was
the invited Wright Brothers Lecturer in Aeronautics by the
AlAA and Royal Aeronautical Society. In 1981 he was elected
to the National Academy of Engineering. His unique manage-
ment approach earned him Silver Knight en cl GoIclen Knight
awards from the American Management Association.
Lockheed and the nation will miss Ben a technically
sound, enthusiastic leacler proud of what his troops accom-
plishec3 and effective in selling what these same troops conic!
coo. The nation must not lose the woncler and the apprecia-
tion of the power of new icleas that constantly motivates! Ben.